An Alternative Beauty Pageant

Tonight is the Miss Universe pageant, in which contestants vied for a title and a Trump Tower apartment by donning swimsuits, evening gowns, and out-there costumes. (Update—Mexico won.)

But beauty queens are just so bland compared to the women that painters, photographers, and sculptors have captured in their work. Here, our nominees for an alternative pageant—one celebrating strength and wisdom over youth and bikinis.

An Old Woman with a Cat
Max Lieberman, 1878

This woman’s hands have seen decades of toil, but are still capable of great tenderness.

Woman, Patzcuaro, Mexico
Paul Strand, 1933

Strand liked to photograph “people who have strength and dignity in their faces.” She has both.

I agree with you Annelisa. This photos are really more memorable and more expressive than those in the beauty pageant. I love the first photo The Old woman with the black cat, it looks meaningful to me..